*Knock knock knock*

She was glad to be covered by the porch as she awaited an answer from the door. The wind outside was quite strong, even for a late December evening. With her hooves tucked just beneath her supple muffin top, she could hear movement from inside. It was a rolling crescendo of clops and rummaging. It didn’t take too much imagination to picture the horse on the other side of the door waddling his way towards the door trying not to do any unintended hip-checking to nearby furniture. Maybe trying to figure out where to place the drink that he still had in his burly hands.

The clopping came to a halt. Then the lock clicked, and the door revealed a jet coloured equine head poking out from the red door, with mellow burgundy eyes immediately leading into a warm welcoming smile.

—There you are! Glad you could make it!

—You thought you could get rid of me that easy, Knox?

The Brabant Belgian stepped in, allowing a gust of cold air to rush inside, along with the figure in the porch. The narwhal horse hybrid stood about 10 inches (25 cm) shorter than Knox, not counting her ears and the ivory white horn that sprouted from the middle of her forehead, which today was adorned by a very festive red Santa Claus hat. From underneath it, a wavy mane ran down towards her back, which was typically kept untied during the winter months to keep her neck warm. She was wearing a thick beige coat to protect her from the winter weather, and underneath that, she had chosen a rather tacky red jumper with white lining on the neck and cuffs. Not what she would normally wear, but she was fairly certain that the horse would be using an equally —if not even tackier— green Christmas sweater, that she had gotten him as a gift. So, it was only fair that they would both look just as ridiculous.

Lorena hung the coat on the rack by the entrance and turned around to hug the towering equine. The inside of the house was already toasty but with her hooved around the horse, everything felt much warmer. Knox half-neighed half-sighed.

—So, you dyed your hair?

Lorena pulled away and stared upwards at the horse.

—Just the tips. I didn’t want to go full pink in case I didn’t like the colour. But honestly, I think I like it better this way.

Her eyes wandered away from the horse’s face, down the inkling of a double chin, past his cushiony moobs (mentally patting herself on the back after noticing that Knox was indeed wearing her gift) and into his barrel of a belly. She stared far longer than was needed for him to notice.

—Hey, my eyes are up here!

Instead, Lorena used her hoof to press against the Brabant’s midsection.

—Well? Care to explain this?

Her hoof was now sinking slightly into the small furry crescent that poked out from underneath the hem of the green sweater. The garment, intentionally bought to be rather loose and wider around the waist, could not reach past the apex of the equine’s belly, and instead, hung just above the sagging dome of gray fur that refused to be covered, obscuring the view of his stretchy-pants-clad legs.

Instead of giving an answer, the horse turned around and clopped his way back to the kitchen. Certainly, whatever was on the oven had a higher priority than the loosing battle of his clothes against his growing bulk. It amused Lorena to no end, that in all likelihood, the horse’s love for food and his failing wardrobe were closely correlated.

From the kitchen, Knox’s voice could be heard above the clangs and thumps of kitchenware.

—Uhh, sorry for all the noise. Do… Do you want something to drink?

—Tea sounds lovely. Peppermint, if it wou…

—Right away!

It was only then that Lorena picked up on the smell of spices in the warm cozy air. It was a sweet aroma with some zesty complexity mixed in. It was not the first time she had smelled that alluring fragrance. She secretly wished that those were Callum’s signature gingerbread vegan cookies. She could eat her way through entire industrial-sized baking sheet of those! Perhaps Knox had asked the baker for the recipe? If so, she might have to loosen her belt rather early in the night.

While the horse kept making noise in the kitchen, she stepped into the living room and made herself comfortable in the couch. It was impossible for her to hide how much she loved this season. The lights, the Christmas tree, the gifts underneath, the scented candles, the wreath at the door, the peppermint canes set in a bowl on the center table… it was all lovely. It reminded her of all the past Christmas when she was younger, as well as the more recent celebrations with her friends. Traditions come, traditions go, but the feelings had always stayed the same.

Finally, the horse came back from the kitchen, looking around the room, as if searching for something.

—On the shelf, beside your picture with Callum and your beer drinking trophy.

The horse turned his head towards the shelf where he had left what seemed to be mulled wine on a glass pint mug. He grabbed the drink and took a quick swig at it, as he placed the steamy mug in the coffee table in front of Lorena.

—There you go… I know you don’t like any sugar with it, but if you need any, I can bring some from the kitchen.

And with that, the horse set his sizeable backside right next to the hybrid, only for his pants to let out the distinctive sound of tearing seams. Knox hear them. Lorena heard them. The horse could even feel the pants’ grip becoming a bit roomier around his hips. And the sudden change in position also caused his sweater to ride up over his beach-ball sized belly. With a bemused expression, knowing that there was no way he could wiggle himself out of it this time, Knox braced for the question.

Instead, Lorena hit him with a rhetorical jab.

—Someone has been letting himself go lately, right Knox?


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I've been developing my other OC, Lorena, the narwhal+horse hybrid in the past months. And I wanted to do a quick drawing of her. But given that this is the festive season, I needed someone who could be celebrating the winter holidays with her. And Knox seemed like a good choice. After all, I had been meaning to draw that steed for the longest of time, and this seemed like a good excuse. So there you go. I threw in the setup for a story as well because I want to get back to writing.

Anyway, I hope you all are having a wonderful time despite *gestures broadly* everything. Have some festive horses being fat and happy.

I'd love to hear your comments.



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Knox ©  hdalby33

Lorena and artwork © yours truly  dragontzin